Thursday 16 May 2019

Review - The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan

The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan
Publisher: Random House UK
Release date: 1 May 2019
Back cover blurb: Seven-year-old Jocelyn loves her nanny more than her own mother. When her nanny disappears one night, Jo never gets over the loss. How could she vanish without saying goodbye? Thirty years on, Jo is forced to return to her family home and confront her troubled relationship with her mother. When human remains are discovered in the grounds of the house, Jo begins to question everything. Then an unexpected visitor knocks at the door and Jo’s world is destroyed again as, one by one, she discovers her childhood memories aren’t what they seemed. What secrets was her nanny hiding – and what was she running away from? And can Jo trust what her mother tells her? Sometimes the truth hurts so much you’d rather hear the lie.








Jocelyn (Jo) Holt is bought up in a privileged world of parties, hunting, portraits and extravagant wealth. The daughter of a Lord and Lady, she wants for nothing.

But Jocelyn has a closer relationship with her Nanny, Hannah than she does with her own Mother, Virginia. So when Hannah disappears from the family home one night, Jocelyn is distraught and blames her Mother,

Jocelyn's upbringing from thereon is miserable. She resents her Mother and her relationship with her Father also starts to deteriorate.

Grown up Jocelyn, becomes Jo and is living in the United States when her Father dies. But it isn't until the death of her own husband that Jo decides to return home. She returns to Lake Hall with her 10 year old daughter Ruby.

Her relationship with Virginia is still fraught, though both women are hoping that their recent bereavements will bring them closer together. When an unexpected visitor turns up unannounced at Lake Hall, it turns both women's lives upside down for very different reasons.

When Ruby and a friend make a gruesome discovery in the grounds of Lake Hall, it is clear that life for the Holt family will never, ever be the same again.

Without saying much more, The Nanny is a novel full of surprises, and the ending is just brilliant and I can't wait to see what Gilly Macmillan has up her sleeve next! 

The Nanny is available now via Amazon online and all good bookshops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request in exchange for an honest review.